Braised Chicken

Garlic Braised Chicken is my remixed version of Coq Au Vin. I removed the bacon and traded the red wine for white wine. Those subtle changes make a drastically different dish. Delicious!

I love making this dish for a few reasons: 1. It’s really simple and can be served on any day for a group of any size. 2. It’s a slow cooked dish, so you don’t have to babysit it. This frees up time for other things. You can even make it a day or two ahead of time, then reheat it when you’re ready. 3. It’s one of those meals that looks so pretty on a plate that you can even serve it for company.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Heat a dutch oven to medium heat. Add grape seed oil and saute onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Stir the veggies around slowly. You want them to cook and get tender, but not really brown. Take special care not to burn the garlic. Once the veggies are a bit tender, remove them from the dutch oven and set aside.

Now it’s time to brown the chicken. The key to perfectly browned skin on chicken, or any meat for that matter, is to make sure all the surface moisture is removed. Just pat the skin with a paper towel. Liberally season the chicken with salt and pepper. In the same dutch oven, raise the heat to medium-high. Pour in grapeseed oil and place chicken in, skin side down. It’s very important that the pan be hot before you add oil. This keeps the chicken from sticking. Allow chicken to cook for 5-7 minutes on each side for smaller pieces and 6-8 minutes for bigger pieces. Another trick to know is once you place the meat in the pan, leave it alone! If you disturb the chicken while it cooks, it won’t have an opportunity to brown. Once all the chicken is browned, set it aside on a plate. I know what you’re thinking…this chicken looks ready to eat as is, but trust me, it gets better.

When all the chicken is removed, you will see little brown bits and oil from the chicken left in the bottom. Leave all that flavorful goodness right where it is. It’s time to deglaze the pan.

Add chicken stock to the pan, stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon. This will loosen all the bits of flavor from the pan and incorporate into the stock. Then add white wine and thyme. Return the chicken, and all the juices that collected in the plate, to the stock along with the veggies. Bring it to a boil. Once it’s boiling, cover the dutch oven and place it in the oven for 25-30 minutes. The meat will be very tender and the sauce will have thickened. Now add pearl onions and sauteed mushrooms (optional), cook for an additional 15 minutes. Once the onions are heated through, it’s done.

At dinnertime, serve it up on a pretty plate of buttery mashed potatoes and your favorite vegetable. Don’t forget the wine!